Benjamin Franklin had already turned 70 by the time he signed the US Declaration of Independence in , when the average man wasn't expected to live to see The inventor and statesman's remarkable longevity — he died at the age of 84 — has been attributed to avoiding alcohol and avidly swimming. Global life expectancy at birth has now topped 70 years for men , and 75 years for women.
And the population living to and older is predicted to grow to nearly 3. The progress made on extending lifespans thanks to vaccines and other breakthroughs has created complications, like difficulty funding retirement for growing elderly populations in some places.
France, too, suffered a drop in life expectancy in But there are clear indications more of us are headed the way of Jeanne Calment, the French woman who may have reached the age of before dying in Regardless, her official biography has captured the fancy of those who like the idea of being able to sip Port wine and eat more than two pounds of chocolate per week well past the century mark.
The researcher Aubrey de Grey argues that the cellular decay behind ageing will be defeated. Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist , has likened the human genome to outdated software, and described ageing as a solvable engineering problem. There are potential economic benefits if people become able to live longer while staying healthier. Disparities in terms of healthcare and longevity, even within relatively wealthy countries, have become stark.
The OECD, a group of economically advanced countries, has reported that in 25 of its member states people with the highest level of education can expect to live about six years longer than those with the lowest level of education at age 30, for example. The potential for effective anti-ageing innovation to worsen inequality in the future has stirred debate — some say the advantages the affluent already have in acquiring everything from youth-preserving serums to face cream provide a glimpse of the issues to come.
For more context, here are links to further reading from the World Economic Forum's Strategic Intelligence platform :. On the Strategic Intelligence platform, you can find feeds of expert analysis related to Ageing and Longevity , Global Health , and hundreds of additional topics. The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum. The pandemic both exacerbated harmful drinking habits for many people and made treatment more difficult to access — a wake-up call for the need to address this global issue.
Accept all cookies. Set cookie preferences. Home People, population and community Health and social care Health and life expectancies Life expectancy calculator. Life expectancy calculator Use our interactive calculator to find out your life expectancy and your chance of living to years old. You might also be interested in Gender pay gap explorer Baby names explorer.
Browse the resources below to learn more about what shapes our health, and how to take action to help create healthier places to live, learn, work and play. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Statistics 2 Deaths: Final data for National Vital Statistics Reports; vol 68 no 9.
Mortality in the United States, Provisional life expectancy estimates for January through June, Vital Statistics Rapid Release; no February By providing data on life expectancy at the census tract level, the U. Health data resources to help communities better understand the root causes of local health challenges, and more effectively target local policies and programs.
A series of life expectancy maps developed with Virginia Commonwealth University which show vast disparities in life expectancy across neighborhoods in many U. As health disparities in the United States continue to grow, RWJF's health equity toolkit provides resources, data, and examples of communities working to achieve better health for all.
An online database of evidence-informed policies and programs which address specific types of social, economic and environmental factors to improve health and well-being in communities. How We Work. Our Focus Areas.
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